<p>As it spread into different countries, cybernetics was shaped by the tensions between international networks of scientists and national restrictions set by political, social, and cultural influences. Such extra-scientific factors caused a huge variability in cybernetic applications. This article examines the evolution of cybernetics in West Germany as both a cultural and scientific-technological phenomenon.</p>

INDEX TERMS

History of computing, cybernetics, West Germany, artificial intelligence, popular science

CITATION

Philipp Aumann, "The Distinctiveness of a Unifying Science: Cybernetics' Way to West Germany", IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 33, no. , pp. 17-27, October-December 2011, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2011.78